- 10 apr 2011
IOA starts building new factories on Palestinian land in Salfit
SALFIT, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) allowed the construction of new factories in the so-called Burkan industrial area built on Palestinian land west of Salfit city.
Palestinian health sources said that the factories were draining the environment, noting that they were polluting underground water, the soil, and air. Cancer spread among the population in nearby villages and new types of mosquitos were spreading diseases not known before in the area, they added.
The sources said that the factories and the Israeli settlement of Ariel were pouring their refuse into the Palestinian land.
Palestinian workers in some of those factories said that their owners do not care about environment protection or the health of workers.
http://fwd4.me/zMX 7 jan 2012, 21:29 , Respect -
Maria 11 apr 2011
Approval of J'lem building plans delayed
Four major housing project beyond Green Line removed from District Committee's agenda following PM's intervention, Ynet learns.
Four extensive construction plans in Jewish neighborhoods located beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem have been removed from the agenda of the District Planning and Construction Committee following the prime minister's direct intervention, Ynet has learned.
The move is apparently aimed to prevent an embarrassment before a meeting of the Quartet on the Middle East, scheduled for April 15, a day after the committee was slated to discuss and approve the building plans.
The international community is expected to oppose the expansion of the Jewish neighborhoods and view it as a unilateral move on Israel's part.
The postponed projects include the plan for the construction of 942 housing units in the Gilo neighborhood, http://fwd4.me/zO3 which was approved by a Jerusalem Municipality committee only last week. The move caused great anger in the United States during President Shimon Peres' visit, http://fwd4.me/zO4 including a State Department statement expressing "deep concern" over the new plan.
The rest of the plans will not be included in the agenda in the near future: The construction of 980 housing units housing units in the Har Homa neighborhood, 625 units in Pisgat Ze'ev and 180 in Ramot.
Committee sources confirmed the report, saying that "we have updated the agenda, but the Pisgat Ze'ev plan has been delayed until after Passover." http://fwd4.me/zO5
The sources said they received no explanations on the decision to remove the plans from the agenda, but admitted that there were external pressures.
The Interior Ministry said in response that "the committee is sovereign in determining its agenda and discusses everything on the agenda. From time to time, and under different circumstances, the agenda is edited and changed."
The Prime Minister's Office declined comment.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4055063,00.html
7 jan 2012, 21:29 , Respect -
Maria 12 apr 2011
Netanyahu backs construction in Itamar
Laying groundwork in Itamar
Political sources say prime minister intent on keeping promise to residents of West Bank settlement, which suffered gruesome murder, despite possible international backlash. Plans still require Barak's approval.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to promote construction plans for schools in the settlement of Itamar, where a gruesome murder of five family members took place one month ago, while international pressure mounts on him to present a plan for peace with the Palestinians.
Last week urban building schemes were approved for a number of West Bank settlements, including Nofim, Rotem, and Hemda, effectively setting a precedent for the approval of construction plans there.
After the attack in Itamar Netanyahu promised residents to approve construction there, but sources said Monday that the plans still require the approval of Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Though Netanyahu's office refused to comment on the matter, sources told Ynet that he has ordered Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser and Minister Benny Begin to ask Barak to approve the plans as soon as possible.
The prime minister's move carries great significance as it may incur the wrath of the US administration, which has shown disapproval of construction in settlements. However, Netanyahu has vowed before the residents of Itamar that building will ensue.
Meanwhile, the prime minister's associates denied reports that the US plans to support a unilateral declaration of statehood in September.
A political source said that "there is no split with the US, there is an attempt to form a peace plan and a constant exchange of ideas. Netanyahu has not heard of a change in the US position on a unilateral declaration of statehood."
Pressure is expected to mount on the prime minister, however, as European states and the US urge him to declare that Israel is prepared for negotiations with the Palestinians based on a return to the 1967 borders.
Netanyahu has previously disregarded reports that he will present a comprehensive peace plan in his upcoming speech before Congress, but on a recent visit to Berlin he said he would present a plan in a series of speeches.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4055601,00.html
7 jan 2012, 21:29 , Respect -
Maria 14 apr 2011
Israel Approves 900 Settlement Units Near Bethlehem
The Israeli Regional Construction and Planning Committee approved a new settlement plan that aims at constructing 900 units for Jewish settlers in an area adjacent to Al Walaja Palestinian town in the Bethlehem District.
The units will be built close to the Gilo illegal settlement that was built lands that were illegally annexed from the Palestinians. Israel does not regard Gilo as a settlement, but brands it's as a Jerusalem neighborhood.
The new constructions will be built on 228 Dunams (56.34 Acres) that were illegally annexed from their Palestinian owners, and will include 4, 6 and 8-story apartment buildings, advanced roads and infrastructure.
The newly approved plan comes only one day after the so-called Regional Construction Committee approved the construction of 942 units for Jewish settlers south of Gilo settlement.
The two projects complement each other as they will ensure the expansion of Gilo settlement from the south with a total addition of more than 1800 units.
Israel's policies of settlement construction and expansion were the main reason that pushed the Palestinians to withdraw from the American supervised peace talks with Israel.
The Palestinian Authority also decided to leave the negotiations table to protest Israe's policies against the Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, home demolitions, and ongoing invasions into the occupied territories.
Although the United States repeatedly urged Israel to halt its settlement activities in order to give the peace process a chance to resume, US financial support to Israel is the main funder of Israel's settlement construction and expansion.
The United States grants Israel more than $3 Billion a year in direct aid, in addition to $3 Billion in loan guarantees.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61060 7 jan 2012, 21:29 , Respect -
Maria 16 apr 2011
Israel's 'fantasy island' off Gaza's coast - Suhail Khalilieh
Israel's Channel 2 has revealed an Israeli government plan to set up an artificial "man-made" island off the coast of the Gaza Strip, to be under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
The plan, as reported, was formulated and schemed by the Israeli Minster of Transportation Yaakov Katz, guided and godfathered by Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu. Apparently, the idea has been formulated and detailed by a team of experts for quite some time -- three months according to the report.
The island is planned to sit some 4.5 kilometers from Gaza's shores, and to include Palestinian-operated sea and air ports, tourist accommodation areas, and a desalination plant. The dimensions of the island are drawn at four by two kilometers linked to mainland Gaza by a 4.5 kilometer bridge.
The projected budget for the Island project runs between $5-10 billion and will take somewhere between six and 10 years to execute.
The project, which is yet to receive final approval from Netanyahu, has wide support across the Israeli spectrum. Israeli President Shimon Peres alleged that the island would allow Israel to permanently secede from Gaza with no obligations to commercial trading whatsoever, while maintaining a coastal siege for security purposes including arm smuggling into Gaza. Furthermore, the island and the bridge to mainland Gaza will be subject to designated international supervision.
The news of the island was leaked at the same time Israel methodically redrew the limits of Gaza's fishing zone, which has decreased from 20 nautical miles as agreed in the Oslo Accords in 1994 to three nautical miles. Since January 2009, Israeli naval warships have enforced the limit.
The planned location of the island would fall just outside the Israeli enforced limits.
The Israelis seem so confident that this Island project will receive approval and an international commitment that Israeli Minster of Transportation Yaakov Katz divulged that he wants an international force to control the island for "at least 100 years."
Katz's delusions takes him even further, promoting the island with optimism that Europe, the United States and private entrepreneurs will be willing to be part of this pitfall.
However, in his ignorance of history Katz fails to realize that nations will fall and new nations will rise, and nowadays even Israel can not foresee that far ahead in time.
Hamas -- a major player in the Gaza Strip and the party who calls the shots there at this time -- referred to Israel's plan as an effort to "internationalize" the Gaza blockade. It is really naïve of Israel to imagine that it can pull this off without Hamas agreeing to it -- even more, to be on Hamas' terms.
So, what does Israel really want from this Island? The answer is quite obvious: to boost Israel's control of the Gaza Strip.
Israel plans to permanently close all of Gaza's border crossings with Israel and to restrict everything and everyone that moves in or out of Gaza from the planned island. The Island will be under Palestinian Authority control but security wise it will remain controlled and monitored by the Israeli occupation's navy and the designated international force.
Naturally, the Island would be a demilitarized zone for Palestinians and intended to secure the people of Gaza an opening to provide means of life and exit from what literally would become the largest prison on earth.
The other purpose the island would serve is that it would act to neutralize Hamas -- putting it out of the widely debatable peace equation.
Naturally, the spur of this plan is that it deepen the Palestinian insularity -- maybe to the point of no return.
The island concept is endorsed by Israeli state officials who assume that the Island will end the complexity of Gaza's situation on land and in sea once and for all. This says a lot about what a rough time Israel is still having handling the Gaza Strip, almost six years after the so-called disengagement charade in 2005. But more than that it says how delusional the Israeli government is to pursue such a plan.
It also appears that Netanyahu wants to take a leading initiative in the absence of any plan to resolve the Gaza issue for Israel on permanent basis -- on one hand neutralizing Gaza and on the other hand forcing Israel's perception of territorial exchange -- the land-swap concept.
So, does Israel really think that it could keep Gaza under siege forever? If Israel wants to get out of Gaza it doesn't need an island: it should simply leave.
Today, and contrary to what is claimed by Israel regarding its disengagement from Gaza, the facts on the ground show that Israel is still in effective control of at least 20 percent of the Gaza Strip along the northern and eastern borders.
Building an island will not help Israel to leave Gaza if it puts a checkpoint on the bridge.
It is as contradictory and oafish as the rocket-proof dome that received $205 million of American taxpayers' money supposedly to stop home-made Palestinian rockets. The project is such a waste it could pass as a money-laundering arms deal -- that is how ridiculous the rocket-proof dome is when Israel could just have left Gaza.
Suhail Khalilieh heads the Settlements Monitoring Department at the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=379022 7 jan 2012, 21:29 , Respect -
Maria 17 apr 2011
Israel to move army commands to Negev desert
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's government on Sunday approved a plan to move key military installations to the Negev desert, in a bid to boost development in its arid south and free up valuable land in the centre.
"Not to exaggerate its importance, but it brings to fruition a longstanding vision of moving IDF (Israel Defence Forces) command centres to the Negev," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he opened a cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu said the move would provide "strong momentum to the development of the Negev, assisted by the thousands of quality people who will go there, affecting industry, construction, culture in all its aspects.
His office said the relocation of the intelligence corps and various communications units would be at the thrust of the initiative.
The project is expected to take at least seven years, with a 2018 deadline, and will cost approximately 19 billion shekels ($5.5 billion, 3.85 billion euros).
The government hopes around a quarter of the cost will be covered by profits the state will make by selling prime real estate in central Israel that is currently used by the military.
"The value of the land is enormous," Netanyahu said, adding that the move would also help to decentralize the security structure and strengthen Israel's periphery.
"We are very concentrated in the centre of the country, therefore, we must decentralize our national life in all main areas, with the IDF and security first and foremost," he said.
Israel's government first approved a plan to move IDF units to the Negev in 2005, but the project ran aground amid a dispute between ministries over financing for the relocation of the intelligence and communication units.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=379724 7 jan 2012, 21:30 , Respect -
Maria 19 apr 2011
Fatah officials: Israel's settlement plan is revealing
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Fatah officials said Friday Israel's announcement of new settlement construction earlier in April exposed that government's plans for Palestinian areas south of Jerusalem.
Fatah spokesman Usama Al-Qawasmi said the plan for over 900 new units in the Bethlehem-area settlement of Gilo, revealed April 4, on top of 900 homes announced in November 2009, "confirms the [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu government insists on preferring settlements and aggression to peace and stability in the region."
Also Friday, Fatah official responsible for Jerusalem affairs Hatem Abdul Qader said the settlement scheme intended to close off southern areas of Jerusalem and impose new facts on the ground. Lands belonging to the village of Al-Walaja, in the Bethlehem governorate but included by Israel in its municipal borders of Jerusalem, were facing confiscation, Abdul Qader said.
Settlements in occupied territory are illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=378920 7 jan 2012, 21:30 , Respect -
Maria 21 apr 2011
Strategic plan to link settlement to occupied Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli Ministry of Housing has laid down plans to build a new neighborhood including 800 houses in the Givat Ze'ev settlement northwest of occupied Jerusalem, Israeli Army Radio reported on Thursday.
What makes the neighborhood special is its strategic geographical placement, as it is designed to connect the outlying settlement and make it an integral part of the holy city.
The ministry had announced designating a budget for the plan ahead of implementation on the ground.
Israeli Army Radio said exclusive sources told it that the plan is linked to the approval of the Israeli war minister Ehud Barak, but Housing Minister Ariel Attias vowed to press ahead with the plan in order to reach the stage of application on the ground.
News sources inside the 1948- occupied territories said that international pressure has caused Israel to avoid announcements of new settlement plans in the West Bank. But what is actually happening during the current stalemate in the political process is that the government has been funding plans that have accumulated, waiting for the moment when it is able to implement such strategic plans on the ground.
http://fwd4.me/0037 7 jan 2012, 21:31 , Respect -
Maria 22 apr 2011
NAM urges Israel to abide by law
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has called on Israel to abide by its responsibilities under international law after Tel Aviv ignored to stop illegal expansion of settlement activities.
In a statement on Thursday, Egyptian Ambassador to the UN Maged Abdel Aziz, who spoke on behalf of NAM at the Security Council, said Israel's settlement activities totally contradict its so-called sincerity in achieving a two-state solution.
NAM "reiterates its call for the Security Council to be resolute in demanding that Israel abides by its legal obligations," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
"The Non-Aligned Movement believes that, at this critical juncture, the international community must renew its resolve to uphold its longstanding commitment to the realization of the two-state solution on the basis of international law and the terms of reference of the peace process," Aziz said.
Last September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas began US-sponsored direct talks in Washington following a 20-month break.
However, the two sides failed to reach any agreements after the Israeli premier refused to extend a partial moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The 10-month freeze expired at the end of September.
Palestinians say that settlement construction is aimed at preventing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/176081.html 7 jan 2012, 21:31 , Respect -
Maria 28 apr 2011
New Israeli plan to build 386 settlement units in Sheikh Jarrah revealed
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- An Israeli municipal source revealed that the district committee for planning and building would discuss next Tuesday a plan to build 386 housing units in place of Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem.
The source affirmed that the Zionist real estate agent known as Arieh King in cooperation with the association of Jewish right-wingers submitted this plan to the district committee for approval.
Palestinian sources warned that if this plan was implemented, more than 30 Palestinian families comprised of about 280 individuals would be displaced from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
The families started to receive notices ordering them to leave their homes before they are knocked down.
According to the plan, the Palestinian homes on eight dunums of lands near Kubaniyet Umm Haroun in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood will be demolished before building 386 housing units, a school, a kindergarten and a synagogue.
This settlement outpost is part of five big settlement projects in the holy city and will be encircled with a tall wall heavily guarded by private security men.
In a related context, Youth for Jerusalem association strongly denounced the escalating Israeli violations against the holy city and the Aqsa Mosque.
In a press release on Wednesday, the association said the attacks waged by Israeli troops and settlers on Jerusalem and its natives have become more aggressive and intensive during this month.
It noted to the recent arson attack by settlers on trees inside the Aqsa Mosque compound, the repeated break-ins of its courtyards and the attempts to uproot the Palestinians from their holy city.
Youth for Jerusalem also condemned the Arab and Islamic nations for their silence towards Israel's violations in Jerusalem and their preoccupation with their internal affairs.
http://fwd4.me/00T2 7 jan 2012, 21:31 , Respect -
Maria 5 mei 2011
Deutsche Bahn withdraws from railway project crossing Palestinian lands
BERLIN, (PIC)-- German lawmaker Heike Hansel hailed the national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, for withdrawing from Israel's rail project intended to connect occupied Jerusalem with Tel Aviv because the route will pass through occupied Palestinian territory.
In a press statement to Al-Jazeera Net, Hansel said Deutsche Bahn backed off from this project because of pressures from German and Palestinian politicians as well as peace and human rights activists on the German government and its council of coordination with Israel.
Deusche Bahan, for its part, said it would no longer be part of Israel's rail project because the route under international law is problematic.
Heike along with her fellow lawmakers Inge Hoger and Michael Grosse-Brömer submitted a letter to the German foreign ministry stating that this Israeli railway will isolate occupied Palestinian areas from each other when passing through the villages of Beit Aksa and Beit Surik.
Heike noted that the German foreign ministry made it clear in its reply to their letter that it demanded Israel to respect human rights in the Palestinian lands under its occupation and to observe the Hague convention of 1907 and the Geneva convention of 1949 before deciding to do such project.
In a separate context, the German government said it would not recognize the Palestinian state without Israel's consent, its spokesman Steffen Seibert said Wednesday ahead of Mahmoud Abbas's visit to Berlin.
Seibert told a news conference that the German government's policy in this regard did not change and is still as stated by chancellor Angela Merkel after her meeting with the Israeli premier last April.
http://fwd4.me/00pN
7 jan 2012, 21:31 , Respect -
Maria 9 mei 2011
IOA starts building section of separation wall around Qalandia village
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) started building a section of the separation wall around the village of Qalandia to the north of occupied Jerusalem, local villagers said on Monday.
They said that IOA bulldozers escorted by security forces started leveling land south of the village.
The wall would divide the village into two isolated sectors and would place tens of dunums of Palestinian farmers land behind it blocking them from reaching their land.
The wall would surround the village with a cement structure turning it into a ghetto with only two passages out one leading to Ramallah city and the other to Bir Nabala village.
The 1100 inhabitants of the village fear that the wall would isolate it from the outside world and would negatively affect it on the economic, educational, and administrative levels.
http://fwd4.me/015J 7 jan 2012, 21:32 , Respect -
Maria 10 mei 2011
Israeli minister calls for boosted settlement activity in Al-Khalil
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli minister Uzi Landau has called for the boosting of settlement activity in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil, calling the town the heart of Israel.
(Al-Khalil) is the real infrastructure of Israel, and not water and energy, the minister of infrastructure said in a report by Israeli channel seven. He expressed regret that Israeli schools have failed to teach the youth enough about this fact.
Landau visited the city earlier this week as well as the enclave settlement Karyat Arba to meet with chief settlers there.
He stressed the need to organize tourism campaigns in the city and to educate about it at homes and in schools starting at the kindergarten level and during military service. He also called for construction inside.
The change must start from the city itself, the minister said, adding that it is the root of Jews. And he expressed desire that the change to the educational, political, and military services would make it so that Al-Khalil would be a leading center.
By changing the heart, the rest will follow, he said.
He called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the two cities Jerusalem and Al-Khalil, urging him to start his speech by saying that he came from the land of Hebron and Zion, and by detailing the Jews' right to the land and emphasizing the fairness of the Zionist project.
Israel declared the Ibrahimi Mosque a Jewish heritage site in February 2010. According to analysts, the decision came amid talks of returning to the negotiation table with the Palestinian Authority.
http://fwd4.me/019A 7 jan 2012, 21:32 , Respect -
Maria 10 mei 2011
Lieberman rules out settlement freeze, 'even for three hours'
The foreign minister spoke at a conference for foreign diplomats, along with President Shimon Peres, who criticized the recent reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded to a Palestinian call for Israel to renew its settlement freeze by saying that Israel would do no such thing, "not even for three hours."
The foreign minister, while speaking at the Presidential residence in Jerusalem to foreign diplomats and foreign consular employees said "there will be no building freeze in Jerusalem or in the West Bank, not for three months, not for three days, not even for three hours."
Liberman was responding to a demand made by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas for a short building freeze, possibly for a few months. A ten month freeze on Israeli settlement building expired in September. Since then the Palestinians have refused to return to negotiations until there is another freeze.
Although he rejected Abbas' request for a settlement building freeze, Lieberman said "we are ready to renew negotiations with no preconditions immediately."
The recent reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah also came up during the speech. We have a right to wonder about Fatah's true intentions, Lieberman said.
"There is an organization with a pact calling for the destruction of Israel by way of Jihad which aspires for a world with no Jews," Lieberman said. The fact that "Fatah considers them a partner should teach us more about Fatah than about Hamas."
President Shimon Peres, who was at the event, also warned the crowd about the Palestinian reconciliation.
"We see within the Palestinians two camps – one that is ready to start peace negotiations, that Fatah camp, and a camp that isn't ready to denounce terror, the Hamas camp," the president said, adding that "democracy and terror can't co-exist."
"The two camps are currently trying to unite. It is not our business and we don’t want to get involved in their decision to unite. It is our business to make sure that the West bank doesn't turn into Gaza," Peres said.
http://fwd4.me/019T
UN voices concern on Israel settlements
A new UN report on humanitarian affairs says illegal Israeli settlements in the heart of Palestinian residential areas risk undermining the Palestinian presence in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
The report, titled Positions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, suggests that Israeli measures and policies are prioritizing the settler population of Jerusalem at the expense of the Palestinian population, a Press TV correspondent reported Monday.
Addressing reporters at the UN headquarters on Monday, the author of the report Ray Dolphin detailed the humanitarian impact of Israeli policies on the estimated 270,000 Palestinian residents of East al-Quds.
According to the report, 35 percent of the land has been confiscated for the construction or expansion of Israeli settlements while a mere 13 percent has been zoned for Palestinian residential use.
A vast array of humanitarian concerns facing Palestinians in East al-Quds, including their lack of access to medical care and education, has also been outlined in the report.
The report also makes numerous recommendations, including the halting of settlement building and the prioritizing of housing and zoning for Palestinians, recommendations that have often been made over the years but fallen on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, the last popular effort by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to condemn settlement building in occupied areas was struck down by a US veto just three months ago.
Dolphin reiterated that Palestinians faced problems in registration of their children in East al-Quds. He said almost 10,000 Palestinian children are not registered in the area.
It is a common US practice to veto any UNSC resolution that gets passed against the Israeli regime.
The author of the report acknowledges that the problems plaguing Palestinians are well established and that only a true political solution would bring any real change.
He did say that the report establishes for the first time that it is the official policy of the Israeli regime that creates the existing humanitarian problems for the Palestinians.
Palestinian authorities continue to work toward achieving a successful vote on statehood in the UN General Assembly later this year.
Israel occupied the West Bank and East al-Quds during the Six Day War in 1967, settling nearly 500,000 Jews, mostly from Europe, in more than 100 settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Israel refused to prolong a 10-month ban on settlement construction in late September 2010, stalling US-sponsored talks with the Palestinian Authority, which started earlier that month in Washington.
The Palestinians say that the settlement activities are being carried out to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179125.html 7 jan 2012, 21:32 , Respect -
Maria 11 mei 2011
Israel goes to courts to legalize settlements
JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israel has declared to the high court that illegal construction on what can be declared as state land will be deemed legal, the Israeli Peace Now organization reported earlier this week.
But building that was unauthorized built on private Palestinian land would be dismantled in a year's time, Israel has also declared.
If passed, the new policy infers that the Israeli cabinet must convene and officially decide on the establishment of new settlements for the first time since the Oslo process started in early 90's.
The move came in response to petitions made by Peace Now and other rights groups in the court over the construction of many illegal structures erected in West Bank settlement outposts.
The group emphasized: This is not merely a formal move, or a matter of technical definition legalizing an outpost implies a formal government decision to establish a new settlement, a move which has been avoided for political reasons since 1992.
Meanwhile, the director-general of Al-Quds International Institution Yassin Hammoud has sent new appeals to high-level Arab diplomats urging them to intervene as Israel's Judaization of Jerusalem has heightened.
Those diplomats include Arab foreign ministers and Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa and OIC secretary-general Ekmelledin Ihsanoglu.
Jerusalem rights groups recently uncovered that Israel had been linking a network of underground tunnels under and around the Aqsa Mosque.
The Jerusalem authority also leveled the historic Shepherd hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah district after illegaly acquiring it to pave the way for the largest yet settlement outpost in east Jerusalem less than a kilometer away from the Old City.
The memorandum suggests that influential organizations should exert pressure on the Israel government, warning that without foreign support, new rounds of clashes could flare in the region as locals try and protect their right to residency in their native holy city.
http://fwd4.me/01F2